I hear that Jerry Seinfeld is thinking about starting a new show. It is exactly like the old one that tells us that we had a economy that was taking off like a rocket. Now we have jobless people, people who don't want to work . . . we had energy to sell to anyone who wanted to buy and now we beg communist dictators to please sell us some oil. We had a border that was secure and orderly . . .and now people are streaming over like we have no laws to stop it. Nor the will!!!
We had about a 2 per cent inflation rate and now people can't buy food for inflated prices. We also had $2.69 per gallon gasoline, now we are told we may have to ration. Man, we will have the whole world looking for that guy that can destroy all that in less than 18 MONTHS!!! There will be so much material Jerry won't even need writers. He can just cut out the newspaper articles.
And look at the stumble bums they will have to emulate for other parts. Just walk through the White House and take your pick. More clowns than P.T Barnum ever used. Just sayin'
I love calling people bums and clowns! Sounds sooo Italian Mafia. Like something John Gotti would tell someone, “You bum, I’m gonna call Rusty so he can take you in for a tune up, ya bum”. 😂 A bunch of “mamalukes” and “finokes” running the country! 😂
According to Bill: "... the law sometimes ends up on the wrong side of ‘the people.’" How true! Think of how many laws in our country screw the people for the benefit of a few elite.
You should pay closer attention to your own observations, Bill. You state that " . . . 'an economy can never go back 'to the way it was'." You go on to say that "Once the sun has set, the day is gone." Yet you constantly criticize the world's move toward "green," renewable, clean energy and insist that we should stick with the dirty fossil fuels that have fouled the air, poisoned the water, and are raising the Earth's temperature far beyond what is natural.
You remind me of the man who invested all of his money in buggy whips because he was absolutely certain that horses and buggies were here to stay. Nothing could be superior to them, he declared. He constantly railed against the newfangled automobiles, insisting that they were a waste of time and money and nothing more than a rich man's toy. History has spoken and that man was proven wrong, long ago. So, too, will you be.
Whether you like it or not, the world is leaving the 19th-century technology of burning fossil fuels behind. To my knowledge, every car maker in the world either has at least one fully-electric model for sale, now, or they are planning to release one, soon. Several car manufacturers are planning on phasing out internal combustion engines, completely, within the next ten years. Electric vehicles have come down in price so much that there are several models, by different manufacturers, that are as cheap as comparable vehicles powered by internal combustion engines.
Solar panels have also come down in price while correspondingly increasing in efficiency and producing more power. I have had solar panels which produce all of the electricity my home requires, for several years. Every day I see more and more homes with solar panels going up on the roofs. One doesn't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that people will soon figure out that it's cheaper (not to mention cleaner) to install solar panels on their home and charge their electric car from the sun, FOR FREE, rather than pay for gasoline that has already skyrocketed in price beyond the $6 mark.
Wind turbines, though, like you, I find them to be an eyesore, are necessary to produce power when the sun isn't shining.
The "Green Economy" is still in its infancy. There is much more work to be done, both technologically (especially storage capacity) and in the area people becoming receptive to those new technologies. But, just as we accepted the personal computer, the internet, shopping online, watching movies via streaming services, etc., we will accept fossil fuel-free energy and the world will be better off for it. To quote Bill Bonner, "An economy can never go back to the way it was."
Dale, there is a huge difference between economic products developed by the free market and those imposed, Soviet-style, by the State.
In a free market, entrepreneurs and capitalists take the risks and invest in technologies with no assurance at all of ever making a profit. Only when and if their products make sense and are more worth buying than what is available does the public start switching over.
You say, "Wind turbines ... are necessary to produce power when the sun isn't shining." How the hell would you know? The markets, if left alone, will, with no doubt whatsoever, create and develop exactly what is needed exactly when it is needed.
Well said and he won't respond to you because he has no rebuttal. When the technology is ripe and ready the market will make it abundantly available at a reasonable price. That's not now and won't be any time soon.
In my state's capital, the National Guard armory installed a LOT of solar panels at their HQ. I happened to work with the husband of the person who was their senior accountant (civilian) and paid all their bills. She said their power bills actually went up after the installation.
As you said, "when the technology is ripe"... When things have to be subsidized to be purchased, you know we're not there yet. Mr. Market, left alone, ensures that things pretty much arrive when they're ready. You know this because it's cheaper or more attractive than the alternatives.
No one is IMPOSING anything on anyone. As I said to Brian, the "green" electricity is becoming available.
And, the markets ARE being left alone! People are investing in green energy of their own accord. Are there government subsidies involved? Yes, but the oil companies are HEAVILY subsidized by the government, and they always have been! So, where's the difference?
People are buying electric vehicles because they WANT them and the car companies are supplying consumer demand! That's the definition of a free market! How do you see that as "Soviet-style?"
There is no comparison between the subsidies given to the EV makers and fossil fuels. Carbon emissions from fossil fuels have been greatly reduced over time and the dirty little secret is that more fossil fuels and the mining of minerals actually more than offset the benefits of the "clean energy sources". The whole thing is a joke and what you're seeing right now with inflation and the economic collapse is just the beginning. I'm speaking from the perspective of someone that is a 1 percenter that can deal with whatever they throw at us.
Do some research and reading about "The De-Growth Movement". The Climate Change hoax is a major component of it. It's the WEF/Davos/Socialist/Marxist/Communist/American Democrat Party and their minions concept to solve the world's problems (and put them squarely in charge of "the little people's" lives). This is not a conspiracy theory because if you search it you will find that they very clearly define exactly what they want to do. They are becoming frustrated and frantic because "Climate Change" was supposed to result in the total elimination of capitalism (not that what is in effect in the U.S. is actually capitalism right now). You can keep drinking the Cool-Aid and you will "own nothing and be happy". (That's one of their mantras.)
Yes, emissions from fossil fuels have been greatly reduced. But, they haven't been eliminated. Solar energy, itself, produces no emissions. Yes, emissions and pollution are emitted in the mining and manufacture of the batteries for electric vehicles, HOWEVER that pollution is a ONE-TIME event. Once the electric vehicle is manufactured and is operating from clean, solar energy, there are no more emissions. That's a fact that most people fail to realize.
Vehicles powered by internal combustion engines are a NEVERENDING source of pollution. There is pollution produced during the drilling and refining of oil, the transportation of that oil to the consumer, and yet, again, when that fuel is burned by internal combustion engines. There is absolutely no comparison between the ONE-OFF pollution of electric vehicles and the CONSTANT pollution that results from internal combustion engine-powered vehicles.
And, yes, I agree that those Davos idiots want to control the world. We need to do whatever we can to thwart them and defeat their plans. That said, we should NOT halt the transition to green energy! That would be tantamount to throwing the baby out with the bath water!
I'm not drinking anyone's Kool-Aid. I look at what is happening in the world. I see more and more people purchasing electric vehicles. They are doing that of their own free will. They have a choice between an internal combustion engine or electric motors, and many are opting for the electric. No one is FORCING them to buy those vehicles.
By the same token, the car companies are manufacturing more and more electric vehicles because that's what the consumers are demanding. That's a free market. That's capitalism. I don't see anything wrong with that!
You're missing the point. What Biden and his band of fools have done with regulations, killing permits, killing pipelines et al has created 99 percent of the problems we now endure. No one is saying that if people want to buy solar panels or EV's they shouldn't be allowed. But, there should be no subsidies (which means that'd be price prohibitive) and in the meantime: Drill Baby Drill. That's a free market. That's much more like capitalism.
You're missing the point, too, Dave. The oil companies are subsidized by the government. Always have been! Not only does the government subsidize every well they drill, whether they hit a dry hole or not, but virtually ALL of the drilling the oil companies do is on PUBLIC LAND! That's a subsidy!! How much do you think gasoline would cost if the oil companies had to BUY any land where they wanted to drill, hmmm? What if they had to pay fair market value for that land . . . no eminent domain thievery? Gasoline would cost around $50 a gallon, if not MORE! We would have had electric vehicles way back in the 50s, 60s, 70s, etc. because no one would be able to afford the cost of a tank of gasoline!
Or, how about the rights-of-way that the oil companies get to run their damned pipelines?! What if they had to PURCHASE the right-of-way for their pipeline from every state, city, and private landowner, as well as the federal government, whose property they want to run their pipeline through? That's a HELL of a subsidy! That would probably jack the price of gasoline up to about $100, or more, per gallon!
People like you always ignore the money that the government hands out to the corporations, while you criticize any help the government gives to people in need, like free breakfasts for inner-city school kids whose parents can't afford to feed them, or free daycare for lower-income women so they can go out and get a job instead of being forced to stay home and take care of their kids! I could go on . . .
Everyone complains about American jobs moving overseas and American workers becoming unemployed as a result. Did you know that the U.S. government picks up the full tab for any American corporation that wants to move its headquarters to another country?! Yeah! And WHY do they want to move their headquarters to other countries? To avoid paying their fair share of taxes in America!! Once their headquarters are based in another country, they pay ZERO TAXES!! So, the fuc*ing government is using OUR tax money to PAY the cost of moving corporations' headquarters overseas, so they can avoid paying American taxes!!
So, please! Don't cry to me about the subsidies that are given out to help the renewable energy companies! They're a drop in the ocean compared to what the government gives out to the oil companies and other huge corporations!!
What Dave didn't touch on was that there can be 2 markets, operating independently, that can provide what either consumer wants. It is a Soviet-style market that shoves one choice down your throat (anyone recall the Zil car?). Why can't those that choose Green, do Green; those who prefer carbon, choose carbon. If one proves superior, won't it then be obvious? I can't speak for Dave, but I don't like being dictated to, especially by unelected, never worked an honest day in their lives elitists.
Louisiana light (sweet) crude oil is more than 50 million years old, and comes from an oil reservoir that's almost 20,000 feet underground. It has a dark earthy brown color, is slightly less viscous than tap water, tastes worse than it smells, and is the life blood of the world economy. It represents the single most valuable commodity in existence. Without it, nearly every facet of modern civilization stops. Immediately.
There is enough recoverable crude oil within the continental US to supply current and projected future demand for 400+ years, and that's just the oil we know about. It doesn't account for future discoveries.
We do not need to import foreign crude oil. The domestic oil industry can easily meet, and even surpass domestic demand. Its been done it before, and we can be done again.
The domestic oil industry currently cannot satisfy domestic demand due to oil drilling restrictions imposed by the federal government.
The price of EVERYTHING revolves around oil, and the law of supply vs demand dictates the price of oil. When oil is plentiful, commodities are cheap. When oil is scarce, commodities are more expensive. Right now, domestic oil is scarce, and the price of everything is high because of these restrictions imposed by the federal government.
We import foreign oil from countries that drill and produce it much cheaper than we're able to because they do not implement all of the environmental safeguards that we do. Their methods are FAR more destructive to the environment than ours are.
Every year, the federal government leases tracts of land to oil companies so they can explore on it for oil. If enough oil is found during exploration, the company can then apply for a drilling permit, which allows them to drill a well. If no oil is found during exploration, or if the amount found is not enough to be profitable the lease expires without ever being drilled on.
Leases that are active, but not being drilled on does not mean that oil companies are being lazy, or are trying to keep the oil for themselves. It means they've either explored the lease for oil and found nothing, or found oil but it's not enough to justify drilling for.
It’s not Russia's fault, or China's fault, or Ukraine, or India, or Venezuela, or Iran, or Bangladesh, or any other countries' fault as to why everything is so expensive right now. It's Joe Biden's fault, because he is suppressing the domestic oil industry for political gain.
As you point out, Arnold, the price of everything is dependent upon the price of oil. So, let me ask you a question . . .
If all of our transportation needs were being met by electric vehicles that were being charged with FREE energy from the sun, what would that do to our economy? I'll tell you what it would do . . . The price of EVERYTHING would fall. Inflation would be wiped out. The icing on the cake would be that we'd have cleaner air and water.
You say that the U.S. has enough domestic oil to supply our demand for 400 years. Well, the sun produces trillions of times more energy in a single day than all of the energy used by planet earth for a thousand years! And the sun will be producing that energy for the next 4.5 BILLION YEARS! Does the term "unlimited free energy" mean anything to you? It should. Because that's what transitioning to solar energy means: UNLIMITED FREE ENERGY.
If energy is free and unlimited, the economy of every country in the world will EXPLODE. It will amount to an economic version of Utopia. That may be a bit of hyperbole, but not much.
What a lovely world we have now: Choking on polluted air . . . poisoned by polluted water . . . burning up from Global Warming . . . I'll take the solar panels.
Dale, you make it sound sooo easy and smooth. What is happening now is a conversion to an untested power technology, by elites that are impatient and unwilling to wait for these "storage capacity" technologies to develop and mature. We don't have eough grid capacity right now to stave off rolling blackouts predicted for this summer, let alone the strain that will come from all these electric vehicles coming online that will need charging. California is already running into problems, and begging EV owners to charge their car during the day. Super convenient! The difference between the new technologies we "got used to" that you mention in your last paragraph, and being force-fed green energy, is that there was no pain inflicted by those new technologies. I wasn't deprived of anything by adopting them. Same cannot, by any stretch, be said about immediately switching from reliable fossil fuels.
I don't see where anyone is being "force-fed" green energy, Brian. More and more electricity that has been generated from renewable sources is becoming available, but that's not "force-fed." It's no different than if a new hydroelectric dam was built, or a new nuclear reactor, and the utility supplied that electricity to your home. Would you complain that they were "force-feeding" you electricity that you didn't want? Where's the pain?
I agree that grid capacity will be stretched to the breaking point by the influx of electric vehicles. That's why I mentioned the fact that I have a solar system, powering my home. I lease my system for $90 per month. It cost me only $110 out-of-pocket to have the system installed. And they only reason it cost me ANYTHING, out-of-pocket, is because I insisted that I wanted a system that produced 100% of my home's needs. I could have gotten a system that produced only 80% of my home's needs at NO COST, out-of pocket. My monthly electric bill averaged $120 BEFORE I got my solar system. Now, I pay $90 per month to lease the system. That's a $30 per month savings! ANYONE can do what I did. Anyone can afford a one-time charge of $110 to get a solar system that will provide 100% of their electricity at a $30 per month savings! It's a no-brainer! If people take that simple step -- which will save them a huge amount of money -- they can, then, charge their electric vehicles for free and put no drain, whatsoever, on the power grid. All it takes is for people to make that first move. It really is as easy and smooth as I make it sound.
Thank you for responding Dale. The problem is that a LOT of people are not in the same situation as you. Apartment dwellers, etc. In a northern climate, we RELY on electricity being abundant and available, and not subject to the whims of nature, as Texas found out last winter. Also, I just paid off my 2017 vehicle, and I intend to drive it until the wheels fall off. My job entails a lot of mileage, more than the range of an electric car. We aren't set up with any recharging stations. But because of a concerted effort by our government (Joe let the cat out of the bag last week), there is a war against oil, "forcing" me to pay astronomically for the gas I require. We ARE being force-fed a change to the system that nobody voted for, nor was it even discussed. This is being implemented by the Executive Branch alone. I didn't read whether you have a storage battery so that you can run your a/c or do a load of laundry at night. If you do, and I'm assuming it is a lithium ion type, the pre- and post damage to the environment from that technology is going to prove devastating. Sorry, but I'll take $2/gal. gas and cheap and abundant natural gas any day of the year.
I still don't see it as being "force-fed." Yeah, the price of gasoline is going up. However, that's not all due to Biden and his missteps. Gasoline is going up in price all over the world. Biden isn't responsible for that.
I'm still driving my '97 pick-up truck, which burns fossil fuel, of course. I'm waiting for Ford to release the F-150 Lightning. That thing is incredible! If you get it with the upgraded fast-charging system, the system also connects to your home. If the power goes out and your truck is fully-charged, it will supply all of the electricity for the average American home for THREE DAYS!
No, I don't have a battery storage system for my solar power. I'm still connected to the grid. However, my home produces more power than I consume and that excess goes back into the grid and the utility company sells it to someone else. I get credits for my excess power and I can cash them in at the end of the year. So, not only am I getting my electricity from the sun, but I'm supplying solar energy to other people, PLUS I'm being paid for that power. Bill Bonner would call that a "win-win deal."
What is needed, is to put solar panels on the roofs of every home, apartment building, and commercial structure. That's going to take time. But, once we accomplish that, there will be ample power for everyone. As the excess power from an area where the sun is shining is fed back into the grid, the utility companies can shunt it to areas where the sun isn't shining. The same can be done with the power produced by wind turbines, because turbines work at night when the sun isn't shining. And, we still need storage capacity in addition to all of that for the times when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing. For really extreme events, we should have new-technology nuclear plants that can come online within minutes to supply power.
It will take time, but once it's done the results will be worth it.
As I explained to someone else in this thread . . . Yes, there is environmental damage that results from the production of the lithium-ion batteries. However, that damage is a ONE-OFF. Once the battery is in the vehicle and the vehicle is being charged by clean solar energy, there is no more pollution. Internal combustion engine-powered vehicles produce pollution CONSTANTLY, from the drilling, refining, and transportation of the oil to the burning of the end product of gasoline or diesel. So, there's no real comparison. Fossil fuels are a never-ending source of pollution. Electric vehicles are a one-time pollution event.
All engineers like me know Murphy's Law -- "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." I wish the "Green Energy" people would quit cheerleading all the time and instead start focusing more on potential problems with this new technology so we can resolve them BEFORE switching our whole economy/civilization to green energy. IMHO, the biggest potential problems are ensuring a reliable source of energy for vital services and producing high power density energy for things like making steel from low power density solar/ wind energy.
Dale, Surprisingly I agree to a great degree with your comments on Green Energy. I was driving a Nissan Leaf the second year they came out. I have solar panels on the roof. Bonner rants against government intrusion far beyond energy policy. He longs for the days when character, self-sufficiency, and win-win was the order of the day. As an investment advisory, he and his cohorts provide an extremely valuable macroeconomic education, linked with warning signs and signals that can hep his subscribers avoid on-coming traffic. He exaggerates, ridicules and lambasts the falsity of our leaders. I subscribe to a half dozen other investment advisories. The big difference with Bonner is that they are not selling us a bill of goods with the primary objective of lavishly lining their own pockets. And their analysis is superior.
I agree with your assessment of Bill Bonner and his service. However, he often ignores aspects of world events that he, personally, dislikes. One such is the trend toward green energy.
I have solar panels on my roof that produce 100% of the power my home uses. I pay $90 per month to lease them. My electric bill, prior to installing the solar panels, averaged $120 per month. So, I realized a $30 per month saving, IMMEDIATELY. In my state, the utility company must buy the excess energy that my system is producing and supplying to the grid. They are selling that, clean, energy to other customers. The utility issues me credits for the energy I am supplying to them. At the end of the year, I can claim those credits and have the utility send me a check for my electricity or I can apply those credits to pay for my natural gas.
That's a perfect example of one of Bill's "win win" deals. Yet, he completely ignores it because he prefers to depend on fossil fuels.
My personal opinion? Bill is more concerned with protecting his investments in fossil fuels than he is in appreciating the advantages of green energy. If he really wanted to give good financial advice, he should be encouraging his readers to divest themselves of their stocks in fossil fuels, and buy stocks in companies that are poised to profit from the green energy revolution while those stocks are relatively cheap. In two or five or ten years, those stocks will be worth a fortune. Bill is allowing that opportunity to pass.
The markets are looking good. Solid and in the green. The economy is balanced and stronger than ever. Inflation is under control, at the lowest it has been since perfection. Economic growth, expansion, and output is what we are living. Higher average incomes, higher expenditures. Inflation is stable and low, very low unemployment. Global trade stronger than ever. We have a very strong currency, the economy is very productive and competitive. Global access is expanding at a tremendous rate. This boom period is bringing high demand, no government borrowing, people investing hard earned dollars and seeing positive cash flow results. Extraordinary consumer and business confidence in place. Rapid growth, makes the 1990-2000 economy look like child’s play.
I can't speak for PG V, but what you said in this latest comment is incredibly offensive. You know nothing about me and you make false assumptions to the extent that you be-clown yourself.
First, (I'll address your comments in the order they appear) these are not "immigrants". They are ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. Some come for work, but our current Commander and Thief's administration is handing out other benefits like they're candy such that MANY are coming for those. They're going to get a better life all right. Probably not at your expense though because I notice you didn't answer my questions about what percentage of overall income tax does each percentile of income earners pay.
Second, this country is on the verge of collapse precisely because the politicians won't deal with "hot button" issues. Immigration is just one of them. There's the entitlement programs, including Social Security and Medicare, but the list is much longer than those, then there's the debt and deficits, the list is endless. I'll assume you actually read what Bonner, Dyson, Bowman and Denning write here so you have some concept of what is going to happen (sooner than later). I wouldn't give two cents for 90 percent of the politicians in this country, but reading what you write, you seem to think government is the solution to virtually every problem. To quote the great Ronald Reagan, "Government is the problem."
Third, immigration was never intended to be available to every living and breathing human being. At it's core, an immigrant is supposed to possess skills that are needed and that benefit this country. They're supposed to have the means to support themselves and be an actual asset ON THE DAY THEY ARRIVE. What percentage of the people crossing the Southern Border right now do you think possess any type of specialized skill or talent? I'm going to go out on a limb and say zero, none, zilch, nada. Those that bring something productive to the table generally come through the front door and do it legally. (And, the more skill and talent they possess the faster the government processes their application.)
Finally, like all your liberal/socialist/Marxist/American Democrat Party ilk, when you can't win the argument you pull out what you all think is the trump card. You have no idea what color my skin is or the races of my relatives' and friends. It's absolutely sick that you people are so devoid of good ideas and policies that in the end, you have to attack by accusing us of being racist, which is the least intelligent measure and least important aspect of any human being. By playing that card you think we'll put our tail between our legs and slink off. Well Dale, that's not me. I'll just leave you with a thought that a very wise man taught me when I was a young man: When you look at someone that is black (this was about 50 years ago before your PC culture ran amuck), all that tells you about them is that their ancestors were from Africa. When you look at someone who is white, all that tells you is that their ancestors were from Northern Europe. That's simple and brilliant, and that's how important the color of one's skin is to me. You think about that.
Seems Yellen is your favorite punching bag - never mind her Fed tenure ended before the pandemic and stimmie checks. At least she has the good grace to admit to error - unlike the Fed men (Greenspan, Bernanke, etc.). Methinks in your connecting the dots, repeatedly kicking a woman once in power is a rather uneven response. Smells like sexism. You're better than that.
Just wait till Biden appoints MIT’s angel, Christina “Duckie” Romer to the CEA, she’ll peddle a 3 trillion economic package to “stabilize” the economy and Boner is going to have a field day! She’ll be Boner’s new mush bag! 😂
Replying to my own response, sorry, Mr. Bonner, didn’t mean to slaughter your last name like that by mistake, Bonner, yes, not Boner, although there is such a person, Bill Boner, a lib from Tennessee. My apologies, yikes! 😂
Nor should they be - females are as fallible as males. But Bill routinely calls out Yellen as his prime example of a know-nothing-egg-head-elite. Whereas males of similar stripes who may garner his ridicule are usually unnamed/unidentified. But he's been on Yellen's case, continually naming her, calling her out, for the last several years. Now that Yellen has outed her own self, having enough integrity to say she got it wrong (*), Bill's disdain is relentless, using her admission like a cudgel. After a while it just gets old, comes off as personal/sexist.
(*) But Yellen left Fed in 2018 - Jerome Powell has set interest rate policy for last 3+ years, but Yellen gets Bonner's ire. Why?
I looked all over last weekend for your classic memorial day (or was it veteran's day) article re: the folly of war, including the insane friendly-fire and other unnecessary casualties... Where'd it go? I checked lewrockwell and googled all over for you... and realized you're here now and agora is no more.
Do you have a link to a live version of it, or are you able and willing to repost it here?
Like everything in life, it's just not that simple. Some of my best friends are militants to the Nth degree, true war heroes. But in the context of world history righteousness and evil, god only knows. One might bear in mind that it is the folks at the top of the social pyramid who cause wars. The rest of us drones become patriots or terrorists depending on whose ox is getting gored. One of my most heroic acquaintances flew jets off aircraft carriers over 1,100 times into Vietnam. Good or evil? One of the finest men I ever met.
I hear that Jerry Seinfeld is thinking about starting a new show. It is exactly like the old one that tells us that we had a economy that was taking off like a rocket. Now we have jobless people, people who don't want to work . . . we had energy to sell to anyone who wanted to buy and now we beg communist dictators to please sell us some oil. We had a border that was secure and orderly . . .and now people are streaming over like we have no laws to stop it. Nor the will!!!
We had about a 2 per cent inflation rate and now people can't buy food for inflated prices. We also had $2.69 per gallon gasoline, now we are told we may have to ration. Man, we will have the whole world looking for that guy that can destroy all that in less than 18 MONTHS!!! There will be so much material Jerry won't even need writers. He can just cut out the newspaper articles.
And look at the stumble bums they will have to emulate for other parts. Just walk through the White House and take your pick. More clowns than P.T Barnum ever used. Just sayin'
Don Harrell
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I love calling people bums and clowns! Sounds sooo Italian Mafia. Like something John Gotti would tell someone, “You bum, I’m gonna call Rusty so he can take you in for a tune up, ya bum”. 😂 A bunch of “mamalukes” and “finokes” running the country! 😂
Your title is a misnomer. It's not an accident, it's all being done on purpose.
Yes. "Casualty Ahead" would be a better title.
According to Bill: "... the law sometimes ends up on the wrong side of ‘the people.’" How true! Think of how many laws in our country screw the people for the benefit of a few elite.
You should pay closer attention to your own observations, Bill. You state that " . . . 'an economy can never go back 'to the way it was'." You go on to say that "Once the sun has set, the day is gone." Yet you constantly criticize the world's move toward "green," renewable, clean energy and insist that we should stick with the dirty fossil fuels that have fouled the air, poisoned the water, and are raising the Earth's temperature far beyond what is natural.
You remind me of the man who invested all of his money in buggy whips because he was absolutely certain that horses and buggies were here to stay. Nothing could be superior to them, he declared. He constantly railed against the newfangled automobiles, insisting that they were a waste of time and money and nothing more than a rich man's toy. History has spoken and that man was proven wrong, long ago. So, too, will you be.
Whether you like it or not, the world is leaving the 19th-century technology of burning fossil fuels behind. To my knowledge, every car maker in the world either has at least one fully-electric model for sale, now, or they are planning to release one, soon. Several car manufacturers are planning on phasing out internal combustion engines, completely, within the next ten years. Electric vehicles have come down in price so much that there are several models, by different manufacturers, that are as cheap as comparable vehicles powered by internal combustion engines.
Solar panels have also come down in price while correspondingly increasing in efficiency and producing more power. I have had solar panels which produce all of the electricity my home requires, for several years. Every day I see more and more homes with solar panels going up on the roofs. One doesn't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that people will soon figure out that it's cheaper (not to mention cleaner) to install solar panels on their home and charge their electric car from the sun, FOR FREE, rather than pay for gasoline that has already skyrocketed in price beyond the $6 mark.
Wind turbines, though, like you, I find them to be an eyesore, are necessary to produce power when the sun isn't shining.
The "Green Economy" is still in its infancy. There is much more work to be done, both technologically (especially storage capacity) and in the area people becoming receptive to those new technologies. But, just as we accepted the personal computer, the internet, shopping online, watching movies via streaming services, etc., we will accept fossil fuel-free energy and the world will be better off for it. To quote Bill Bonner, "An economy can never go back to the way it was."
Dale, there is a huge difference between economic products developed by the free market and those imposed, Soviet-style, by the State.
In a free market, entrepreneurs and capitalists take the risks and invest in technologies with no assurance at all of ever making a profit. Only when and if their products make sense and are more worth buying than what is available does the public start switching over.
You say, "Wind turbines ... are necessary to produce power when the sun isn't shining." How the hell would you know? The markets, if left alone, will, with no doubt whatsoever, create and develop exactly what is needed exactly when it is needed.
Well said and he won't respond to you because he has no rebuttal. When the technology is ripe and ready the market will make it abundantly available at a reasonable price. That's not now and won't be any time soon.
In my state's capital, the National Guard armory installed a LOT of solar panels at their HQ. I happened to work with the husband of the person who was their senior accountant (civilian) and paid all their bills. She said their power bills actually went up after the installation.
As you said, "when the technology is ripe"... When things have to be subsidized to be purchased, you know we're not there yet. Mr. Market, left alone, ensures that things pretty much arrive when they're ready. You know this because it's cheaper or more attractive than the alternatives.
Got LOTS of coin. Bought the truck new in '97, been driving it ever since. Gonna' buy a new Ford F-150 Lightning.
And he's going to pay cash for that new Ford LOL.
Dan, you said it far more convincingly and concisely than I did. Great clarity!
No one is IMPOSING anything on anyone. As I said to Brian, the "green" electricity is becoming available.
And, the markets ARE being left alone! People are investing in green energy of their own accord. Are there government subsidies involved? Yes, but the oil companies are HEAVILY subsidized by the government, and they always have been! So, where's the difference?
People are buying electric vehicles because they WANT them and the car companies are supplying consumer demand! That's the definition of a free market! How do you see that as "Soviet-style?"
There is no comparison between the subsidies given to the EV makers and fossil fuels. Carbon emissions from fossil fuels have been greatly reduced over time and the dirty little secret is that more fossil fuels and the mining of minerals actually more than offset the benefits of the "clean energy sources". The whole thing is a joke and what you're seeing right now with inflation and the economic collapse is just the beginning. I'm speaking from the perspective of someone that is a 1 percenter that can deal with whatever they throw at us.
Do some research and reading about "The De-Growth Movement". The Climate Change hoax is a major component of it. It's the WEF/Davos/Socialist/Marxist/Communist/American Democrat Party and their minions concept to solve the world's problems (and put them squarely in charge of "the little people's" lives). This is not a conspiracy theory because if you search it you will find that they very clearly define exactly what they want to do. They are becoming frustrated and frantic because "Climate Change" was supposed to result in the total elimination of capitalism (not that what is in effect in the U.S. is actually capitalism right now). You can keep drinking the Cool-Aid and you will "own nothing and be happy". (That's one of their mantras.)
Yes, emissions from fossil fuels have been greatly reduced. But, they haven't been eliminated. Solar energy, itself, produces no emissions. Yes, emissions and pollution are emitted in the mining and manufacture of the batteries for electric vehicles, HOWEVER that pollution is a ONE-TIME event. Once the electric vehicle is manufactured and is operating from clean, solar energy, there are no more emissions. That's a fact that most people fail to realize.
Vehicles powered by internal combustion engines are a NEVERENDING source of pollution. There is pollution produced during the drilling and refining of oil, the transportation of that oil to the consumer, and yet, again, when that fuel is burned by internal combustion engines. There is absolutely no comparison between the ONE-OFF pollution of electric vehicles and the CONSTANT pollution that results from internal combustion engine-powered vehicles.
And, yes, I agree that those Davos idiots want to control the world. We need to do whatever we can to thwart them and defeat their plans. That said, we should NOT halt the transition to green energy! That would be tantamount to throwing the baby out with the bath water!
I'm not drinking anyone's Kool-Aid. I look at what is happening in the world. I see more and more people purchasing electric vehicles. They are doing that of their own free will. They have a choice between an internal combustion engine or electric motors, and many are opting for the electric. No one is FORCING them to buy those vehicles.
By the same token, the car companies are manufacturing more and more electric vehicles because that's what the consumers are demanding. That's a free market. That's capitalism. I don't see anything wrong with that!
You're missing the point. What Biden and his band of fools have done with regulations, killing permits, killing pipelines et al has created 99 percent of the problems we now endure. No one is saying that if people want to buy solar panels or EV's they shouldn't be allowed. But, there should be no subsidies (which means that'd be price prohibitive) and in the meantime: Drill Baby Drill. That's a free market. That's much more like capitalism.
You're missing the point, too, Dave. The oil companies are subsidized by the government. Always have been! Not only does the government subsidize every well they drill, whether they hit a dry hole or not, but virtually ALL of the drilling the oil companies do is on PUBLIC LAND! That's a subsidy!! How much do you think gasoline would cost if the oil companies had to BUY any land where they wanted to drill, hmmm? What if they had to pay fair market value for that land . . . no eminent domain thievery? Gasoline would cost around $50 a gallon, if not MORE! We would have had electric vehicles way back in the 50s, 60s, 70s, etc. because no one would be able to afford the cost of a tank of gasoline!
Or, how about the rights-of-way that the oil companies get to run their damned pipelines?! What if they had to PURCHASE the right-of-way for their pipeline from every state, city, and private landowner, as well as the federal government, whose property they want to run their pipeline through? That's a HELL of a subsidy! That would probably jack the price of gasoline up to about $100, or more, per gallon!
People like you always ignore the money that the government hands out to the corporations, while you criticize any help the government gives to people in need, like free breakfasts for inner-city school kids whose parents can't afford to feed them, or free daycare for lower-income women so they can go out and get a job instead of being forced to stay home and take care of their kids! I could go on . . .
Everyone complains about American jobs moving overseas and American workers becoming unemployed as a result. Did you know that the U.S. government picks up the full tab for any American corporation that wants to move its headquarters to another country?! Yeah! And WHY do they want to move their headquarters to other countries? To avoid paying their fair share of taxes in America!! Once their headquarters are based in another country, they pay ZERO TAXES!! So, the fuc*ing government is using OUR tax money to PAY the cost of moving corporations' headquarters overseas, so they can avoid paying American taxes!!
So, please! Don't cry to me about the subsidies that are given out to help the renewable energy companies! They're a drop in the ocean compared to what the government gives out to the oil companies and other huge corporations!!
What Dave didn't touch on was that there can be 2 markets, operating independently, that can provide what either consumer wants. It is a Soviet-style market that shoves one choice down your throat (anyone recall the Zil car?). Why can't those that choose Green, do Green; those who prefer carbon, choose carbon. If one proves superior, won't it then be obvious? I can't speak for Dave, but I don't like being dictated to, especially by unelected, never worked an honest day in their lives elitists.
Touche'! Works for me.
And me too. Centralised "planning" has never worked, as far as I'm aware.
Let the market decide - it may take a while, but it'll get there.
Louisiana light (sweet) crude oil is more than 50 million years old, and comes from an oil reservoir that's almost 20,000 feet underground. It has a dark earthy brown color, is slightly less viscous than tap water, tastes worse than it smells, and is the life blood of the world economy. It represents the single most valuable commodity in existence. Without it, nearly every facet of modern civilization stops. Immediately.
There is enough recoverable crude oil within the continental US to supply current and projected future demand for 400+ years, and that's just the oil we know about. It doesn't account for future discoveries.
We do not need to import foreign crude oil. The domestic oil industry can easily meet, and even surpass domestic demand. Its been done it before, and we can be done again.
The domestic oil industry currently cannot satisfy domestic demand due to oil drilling restrictions imposed by the federal government.
The price of EVERYTHING revolves around oil, and the law of supply vs demand dictates the price of oil. When oil is plentiful, commodities are cheap. When oil is scarce, commodities are more expensive. Right now, domestic oil is scarce, and the price of everything is high because of these restrictions imposed by the federal government.
We import foreign oil from countries that drill and produce it much cheaper than we're able to because they do not implement all of the environmental safeguards that we do. Their methods are FAR more destructive to the environment than ours are.
Every year, the federal government leases tracts of land to oil companies so they can explore on it for oil. If enough oil is found during exploration, the company can then apply for a drilling permit, which allows them to drill a well. If no oil is found during exploration, or if the amount found is not enough to be profitable the lease expires without ever being drilled on.
Leases that are active, but not being drilled on does not mean that oil companies are being lazy, or are trying to keep the oil for themselves. It means they've either explored the lease for oil and found nothing, or found oil but it's not enough to justify drilling for.
It’s not Russia's fault, or China's fault, or Ukraine, or India, or Venezuela, or Iran, or Bangladesh, or any other countries' fault as to why everything is so expensive right now. It's Joe Biden's fault, because he is suppressing the domestic oil industry for political gain.
As you point out, Arnold, the price of everything is dependent upon the price of oil. So, let me ask you a question . . .
If all of our transportation needs were being met by electric vehicles that were being charged with FREE energy from the sun, what would that do to our economy? I'll tell you what it would do . . . The price of EVERYTHING would fall. Inflation would be wiped out. The icing on the cake would be that we'd have cleaner air and water.
You say that the U.S. has enough domestic oil to supply our demand for 400 years. Well, the sun produces trillions of times more energy in a single day than all of the energy used by planet earth for a thousand years! And the sun will be producing that energy for the next 4.5 BILLION YEARS! Does the term "unlimited free energy" mean anything to you? It should. Because that's what transitioning to solar energy means: UNLIMITED FREE ENERGY.
If energy is free and unlimited, the economy of every country in the world will EXPLODE. It will amount to an economic version of Utopia. That may be a bit of hyperbole, but not much.
What a lovely world . . . covered in solar collection panels. No thanks.
What a lovely world we have now: Choking on polluted air . . . poisoned by polluted water . . . burning up from Global Warming . . . I'll take the solar panels.
Dale, you make it sound sooo easy and smooth. What is happening now is a conversion to an untested power technology, by elites that are impatient and unwilling to wait for these "storage capacity" technologies to develop and mature. We don't have eough grid capacity right now to stave off rolling blackouts predicted for this summer, let alone the strain that will come from all these electric vehicles coming online that will need charging. California is already running into problems, and begging EV owners to charge their car during the day. Super convenient! The difference between the new technologies we "got used to" that you mention in your last paragraph, and being force-fed green energy, is that there was no pain inflicted by those new technologies. I wasn't deprived of anything by adopting them. Same cannot, by any stretch, be said about immediately switching from reliable fossil fuels.
I don't see where anyone is being "force-fed" green energy, Brian. More and more electricity that has been generated from renewable sources is becoming available, but that's not "force-fed." It's no different than if a new hydroelectric dam was built, or a new nuclear reactor, and the utility supplied that electricity to your home. Would you complain that they were "force-feeding" you electricity that you didn't want? Where's the pain?
I agree that grid capacity will be stretched to the breaking point by the influx of electric vehicles. That's why I mentioned the fact that I have a solar system, powering my home. I lease my system for $90 per month. It cost me only $110 out-of-pocket to have the system installed. And they only reason it cost me ANYTHING, out-of-pocket, is because I insisted that I wanted a system that produced 100% of my home's needs. I could have gotten a system that produced only 80% of my home's needs at NO COST, out-of pocket. My monthly electric bill averaged $120 BEFORE I got my solar system. Now, I pay $90 per month to lease the system. That's a $30 per month savings! ANYONE can do what I did. Anyone can afford a one-time charge of $110 to get a solar system that will provide 100% of their electricity at a $30 per month savings! It's a no-brainer! If people take that simple step -- which will save them a huge amount of money -- they can, then, charge their electric vehicles for free and put no drain, whatsoever, on the power grid. All it takes is for people to make that first move. It really is as easy and smooth as I make it sound.
Thank you for responding Dale. The problem is that a LOT of people are not in the same situation as you. Apartment dwellers, etc. In a northern climate, we RELY on electricity being abundant and available, and not subject to the whims of nature, as Texas found out last winter. Also, I just paid off my 2017 vehicle, and I intend to drive it until the wheels fall off. My job entails a lot of mileage, more than the range of an electric car. We aren't set up with any recharging stations. But because of a concerted effort by our government (Joe let the cat out of the bag last week), there is a war against oil, "forcing" me to pay astronomically for the gas I require. We ARE being force-fed a change to the system that nobody voted for, nor was it even discussed. This is being implemented by the Executive Branch alone. I didn't read whether you have a storage battery so that you can run your a/c or do a load of laundry at night. If you do, and I'm assuming it is a lithium ion type, the pre- and post damage to the environment from that technology is going to prove devastating. Sorry, but I'll take $2/gal. gas and cheap and abundant natural gas any day of the year.
I still don't see it as being "force-fed." Yeah, the price of gasoline is going up. However, that's not all due to Biden and his missteps. Gasoline is going up in price all over the world. Biden isn't responsible for that.
I'm still driving my '97 pick-up truck, which burns fossil fuel, of course. I'm waiting for Ford to release the F-150 Lightning. That thing is incredible! If you get it with the upgraded fast-charging system, the system also connects to your home. If the power goes out and your truck is fully-charged, it will supply all of the electricity for the average American home for THREE DAYS!
No, I don't have a battery storage system for my solar power. I'm still connected to the grid. However, my home produces more power than I consume and that excess goes back into the grid and the utility company sells it to someone else. I get credits for my excess power and I can cash them in at the end of the year. So, not only am I getting my electricity from the sun, but I'm supplying solar energy to other people, PLUS I'm being paid for that power. Bill Bonner would call that a "win-win deal."
What is needed, is to put solar panels on the roofs of every home, apartment building, and commercial structure. That's going to take time. But, once we accomplish that, there will be ample power for everyone. As the excess power from an area where the sun is shining is fed back into the grid, the utility companies can shunt it to areas where the sun isn't shining. The same can be done with the power produced by wind turbines, because turbines work at night when the sun isn't shining. And, we still need storage capacity in addition to all of that for the times when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing. For really extreme events, we should have new-technology nuclear plants that can come online within minutes to supply power.
It will take time, but once it's done the results will be worth it.
As I explained to someone else in this thread . . . Yes, there is environmental damage that results from the production of the lithium-ion batteries. However, that damage is a ONE-OFF. Once the battery is in the vehicle and the vehicle is being charged by clean solar energy, there is no more pollution. Internal combustion engine-powered vehicles produce pollution CONSTANTLY, from the drilling, refining, and transportation of the oil to the burning of the end product of gasoline or diesel. So, there's no real comparison. Fossil fuels are a never-ending source of pollution. Electric vehicles are a one-time pollution event.
All engineers like me know Murphy's Law -- "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." I wish the "Green Energy" people would quit cheerleading all the time and instead start focusing more on potential problems with this new technology so we can resolve them BEFORE switching our whole economy/civilization to green energy. IMHO, the biggest potential problems are ensuring a reliable source of energy for vital services and producing high power density energy for things like making steel from low power density solar/ wind energy.
Dale, Surprisingly I agree to a great degree with your comments on Green Energy. I was driving a Nissan Leaf the second year they came out. I have solar panels on the roof. Bonner rants against government intrusion far beyond energy policy. He longs for the days when character, self-sufficiency, and win-win was the order of the day. As an investment advisory, he and his cohorts provide an extremely valuable macroeconomic education, linked with warning signs and signals that can hep his subscribers avoid on-coming traffic. He exaggerates, ridicules and lambasts the falsity of our leaders. I subscribe to a half dozen other investment advisories. The big difference with Bonner is that they are not selling us a bill of goods with the primary objective of lavishly lining their own pockets. And their analysis is superior.
I agree with your assessment of Bill Bonner and his service. However, he often ignores aspects of world events that he, personally, dislikes. One such is the trend toward green energy.
I have solar panels on my roof that produce 100% of the power my home uses. I pay $90 per month to lease them. My electric bill, prior to installing the solar panels, averaged $120 per month. So, I realized a $30 per month saving, IMMEDIATELY. In my state, the utility company must buy the excess energy that my system is producing and supplying to the grid. They are selling that, clean, energy to other customers. The utility issues me credits for the energy I am supplying to them. At the end of the year, I can claim those credits and have the utility send me a check for my electricity or I can apply those credits to pay for my natural gas.
That's a perfect example of one of Bill's "win win" deals. Yet, he completely ignores it because he prefers to depend on fossil fuels.
My personal opinion? Bill is more concerned with protecting his investments in fossil fuels than he is in appreciating the advantages of green energy. If he really wanted to give good financial advice, he should be encouraging his readers to divest themselves of their stocks in fossil fuels, and buy stocks in companies that are poised to profit from the green energy revolution while those stocks are relatively cheap. In two or five or ten years, those stocks will be worth a fortune. Bill is allowing that opportunity to pass.
The markets are looking good. Solid and in the green. The economy is balanced and stronger than ever. Inflation is under control, at the lowest it has been since perfection. Economic growth, expansion, and output is what we are living. Higher average incomes, higher expenditures. Inflation is stable and low, very low unemployment. Global trade stronger than ever. We have a very strong currency, the economy is very productive and competitive. Global access is expanding at a tremendous rate. This boom period is bringing high demand, no government borrowing, people investing hard earned dollars and seeing positive cash flow results. Extraordinary consumer and business confidence in place. Rapid growth, makes the 1990-2000 economy look like child’s play.
Yeah!
Why not huh? Why not? Hahahaha! 😂
It’s all a figment of your imagination. 🤣
You should be Joe Biden's next White House Press Secretary. Perfect for the job!
LMAO😂, that’s hilarious!
I can't speak for PG V, but what you said in this latest comment is incredibly offensive. You know nothing about me and you make false assumptions to the extent that you be-clown yourself.
First, (I'll address your comments in the order they appear) these are not "immigrants". They are ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. Some come for work, but our current Commander and Thief's administration is handing out other benefits like they're candy such that MANY are coming for those. They're going to get a better life all right. Probably not at your expense though because I notice you didn't answer my questions about what percentage of overall income tax does each percentile of income earners pay.
Second, this country is on the verge of collapse precisely because the politicians won't deal with "hot button" issues. Immigration is just one of them. There's the entitlement programs, including Social Security and Medicare, but the list is much longer than those, then there's the debt and deficits, the list is endless. I'll assume you actually read what Bonner, Dyson, Bowman and Denning write here so you have some concept of what is going to happen (sooner than later). I wouldn't give two cents for 90 percent of the politicians in this country, but reading what you write, you seem to think government is the solution to virtually every problem. To quote the great Ronald Reagan, "Government is the problem."
Third, immigration was never intended to be available to every living and breathing human being. At it's core, an immigrant is supposed to possess skills that are needed and that benefit this country. They're supposed to have the means to support themselves and be an actual asset ON THE DAY THEY ARRIVE. What percentage of the people crossing the Southern Border right now do you think possess any type of specialized skill or talent? I'm going to go out on a limb and say zero, none, zilch, nada. Those that bring something productive to the table generally come through the front door and do it legally. (And, the more skill and talent they possess the faster the government processes their application.)
Finally, like all your liberal/socialist/Marxist/American Democrat Party ilk, when you can't win the argument you pull out what you all think is the trump card. You have no idea what color my skin is or the races of my relatives' and friends. It's absolutely sick that you people are so devoid of good ideas and policies that in the end, you have to attack by accusing us of being racist, which is the least intelligent measure and least important aspect of any human being. By playing that card you think we'll put our tail between our legs and slink off. Well Dale, that's not me. I'll just leave you with a thought that a very wise man taught me when I was a young man: When you look at someone that is black (this was about 50 years ago before your PC culture ran amuck), all that tells you about them is that their ancestors were from Africa. When you look at someone who is white, all that tells you is that their ancestors were from Northern Europe. That's simple and brilliant, and that's how important the color of one's skin is to me. You think about that.
Then move out of Los Angeles!
PG V back with a vengeance!
Seems Yellen is your favorite punching bag - never mind her Fed tenure ended before the pandemic and stimmie checks. At least she has the good grace to admit to error - unlike the Fed men (Greenspan, Bernanke, etc.). Methinks in your connecting the dots, repeatedly kicking a woman once in power is a rather uneven response. Smells like sexism. You're better than that.
Just wait till Biden appoints MIT’s angel, Christina “Duckie” Romer to the CEA, she’ll peddle a 3 trillion economic package to “stabilize” the economy and Boner is going to have a field day! She’ll be Boner’s new mush bag! 😂
Replying to my own response, sorry, Mr. Bonner, didn’t mean to slaughter your last name like that by mistake, Bonner, yes, not Boner, although there is such a person, Bill Boner, a lib from Tennessee. My apologies, yikes! 😂
Nor should they be - females are as fallible as males. But Bill routinely calls out Yellen as his prime example of a know-nothing-egg-head-elite. Whereas males of similar stripes who may garner his ridicule are usually unnamed/unidentified. But he's been on Yellen's case, continually naming her, calling her out, for the last several years. Now that Yellen has outed her own self, having enough integrity to say she got it wrong (*), Bill's disdain is relentless, using her admission like a cudgel. After a while it just gets old, comes off as personal/sexist.
(*) But Yellen left Fed in 2018 - Jerome Powell has set interest rate policy for last 3+ years, but Yellen gets Bonner's ire. Why?
Bill,
I looked all over last weekend for your classic memorial day (or was it veteran's day) article re: the folly of war, including the insane friendly-fire and other unnecessary casualties... Where'd it go? I checked lewrockwell and googled all over for you... and realized you're here now and agora is no more.
Do you have a link to a live version of it, or are you able and willing to repost it here?
Thanks much!
Like everything in life, it's just not that simple. Some of my best friends are militants to the Nth degree, true war heroes. But in the context of world history righteousness and evil, god only knows. One might bear in mind that it is the folks at the top of the social pyramid who cause wars. The rest of us drones become patriots or terrorists depending on whose ox is getting gored. One of my most heroic acquaintances flew jets off aircraft carriers over 1,100 times into Vietnam. Good or evil? One of the finest men I ever met.
Those last three sentences are pure truth and gold. It's a shame the people leading this country right now don't feel or think the same way.
I agree. I attended my favorite Admiral at Arlington about a month ago.